Leica camera collection snapped up

Lincolnshire auction house Batemans‘ recent sale of fine art, antiques and collectables saw items snapped up, such as a rare complete private collection of sought-after Leica cameras. All in working order, the collection of cameras and lenses flashed through their estimate of up to £2,550 to sell for £3,640. Top of the lot was a Leica M6 with original box and a Leica Summicron-M 1: 2/35 lens selling for £1,400, against an £800-£1,200 estimate.

Elsewhere in the sale, highly collectable silver by silversmith Louis Osman, a modernist designer, architect, goldsmith and silversmith, achieved a hammer price of £2,600 against the estimate of £80-£120. A small cut-glass ewer by Regency silversmith Paul Storr also climbed above its top estimate of £450 to a hammer price of £900.

Period Chinese works of art and porcelain also proved popular. A Qing Dynasty mid-18th–century Sang de Boeuf saucer dish had a conservative estimate of £300-£500, but soared above it to £2,600, going to a buyer in the room against the internet, commissions and phone bids. A few lots later, a group of Chinese porcelain with another interesting and superb quality Qing Dynasty bowl sold for £1,200 – ten times its £80-£120 estimate.

In the jewellery section of the sale, an art deco diamond ring topped the sale by selling for £3,000, while a more modern diamond and sapphire ring again sold at the top estimate at £1,500, alongside a top-quality diamond ring that sold mid-estimate at £1,300.

Landscapes by artist Frank Watson Wood performed well in paintings and works of art, with two watercolours of the artist’s home town of Berwick Upon Tweed each selling for £880 and £800 respectively.